Warning to millions of Ring doorbell owners who could face fines up to £100,000

Millions of Brits are being warned that they might accidentally be breaking the law with their doorbells and home security systems.

According to MyBuilder, almost half of British homeowners have some kind of surveillance system on their house whether that be in the form of a device like a Ring doorbell or a home CCTV system.

It's perfectly legal to set this sort of thing up, but you might run into trouble if your cameras record anything outside your own home.

That could be the pavement in front of your house, it might be a neighbour's garden or any number of other things.

If you've got a camera sticking out of your house and it's filming stuff that doesn't belong to you then there's some things you need to do, or you could be in legal trouble.

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Andy Simms, a property expert for MyBuilder, encouraged Brits to check whether what they're doing is legal and if they've taken all the necessary steps.

He said: "If you have installed - or are considering installing - CCTV or smart cameras, there are certain guidelines you need to follow to ensure you are not breaking any rules or laws.

"It’s becoming increasingly popular to have home surveillance systems, and there are many obvious benefits to safety by installing one.

"While it’s not illegal to have CCTV and recording systems on your property, filming people secretly often is. It’s imperative that you follow the guidance and position correct signage about your systems, to avoid breaking the law."

The legal bit is that if your security system films people outside your property then you're under the Data Protection Act (DPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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Secretly filming people is illegal so what you need to do is make sure there are signs up on your property warning folks that you've got cameras up.

This also counts for filming people secretly on your property, so anyone coming round to yours needs to know what's going on.

If you're sticking up CCTV then you ought to tell your neighbours as well so they know there's now cameras up near them.

Failure to do this could land you with a fine of up to £100,000 and possibly even criminal charges, so it's better to be safe and make sure the neighbourhood knows you've got cameras up.

Solicitors Peacock & Co highlighted a case where someone won claims of harassment and a breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 against a neighbour.

However, the judge's ruling wasn't simply a punishment for having a Ring doorbell, as the solicitors noted that the behaviour of the defendant played a part in the decision.